Emily’s Reviews > Milkman > Status Update

This book is slowly growing on me, yet mostly because I have succumbed to the realization that it’s a book you have to work through. The language is so saturated that it takes patience to see the intelligence of the relentless prose. It can be a bit claustrophobic at time, as I feel like I’m really in the head of middle sister as she’s experiencing collective paranoia and fear.

Through a rapid-fire stream-of-consciousness narration of the novel, themes emerge about division, nationalism, classism, sexism and social norms. The atmosphere is charged with speculation and suspicion, so that all the characters are walking on eggshells. The language is very matter of fact, without embellishment or much descriptive imagery, so one struggle I have is imagining the scenes in the book.